Southern Italy Itinerary Assistance Request UPDATE

Hi Fred,

My first advice would be to make this a multi-city plane ticket, so you didn’t need to backtrack and waste a day just in transportation. I would do everything you want in the Naples area, take a train over to Puglia and then finish in Sicily and fly home from there.

I’m currently planning a 1-month trip for next year and will be spending two weeks of it in Puglia. I’ll post my itinerary on here after lunch in case it’s helpful for the Puglia area. I travel by train, plus I will take a bus to Alberobello to have an overnight there. I’m planning to take an ebike tour -probably at Martina Franca for a day or half-day to get into the countryside & nearby places, but of course, your biking will be much more serious.

You need to give both Sicily and Puglia more time, two weeks for each location. . Save the Amalfi Coast for another trip.

I've been running into several sites for guided & unguided bike tours in the Puglia region. But since I'm just interested in a short daytrip small group type, I didn't focus on those. Just a quick search; here was one of them: https://www.italia.it/en/puglia/things-to-do/cycling-routes-puglia

I pick of variety of prices for lodging over a trip. I noted the ones that are the special ones.

(I'm flying into Rome & taking the train to Puglia after a few days in Rome.)
Trani - I wanted to begin with some days on the water, and this one has been mentioned on the forum & on other sites/podcasts as being a nice one, plus laid back & relaxing.
Bari - attending a festival. I wouldn't pick this location otherwise for your trip.
Alberobello - be sure to stay in one of the smaller cities in central Puglia where you can experience sleeping in a trullo!
Martina Franca - this is where I'm planning to take an ebike tour. I selected the Savito Guest House on the edge of the city, and it has a small pool - seem to remember mention of some bikers staying there.
Lecce - pretty baroque architecture & I'm signed up for a highly rated cooking class.
Ostuni - you may want to skip this one because it's up on a hill away from the train station. But, its train station is handy along the Lecce/Adriatic coast path. I selected Palazzo Stunis for lodging; he sounds extremely helpful, and the place is gorgeous!
Polignano a Mare - you need at least one water/beach location. Monopoli is another nearby option. I'm splurging at this location and staying at POSEA - Polignano Suites with a balcony room overlooking the gorgeous beach cove spot! Definitely taking a boat ride at this location.

In the Puglia region, all of my train transportation times between cities are less than an hour, except for a 3-hr between Martina Franca & Lecce. Bari to Alberobello will be an hour by bus.

From Pol a Mare, I will be taking a train up into the Molise & Abruzzo regions. You could just fly over to Sicily from nearby Bari.

Hope that's some help!

If you visit Cilento we enjoyed staying in Santa Maria Di castellabate , which was close to Paestum and Agropoli for a day visit. Also loved the waters off of marina di camerota .
Clean beautiful water in Cilento (or it was years ago) - very local though and helps to know a little Italian (and we had a car). We combined with visiting amalfi but spent probably two weeks in only those two areas .

I am in the processing of finishing a rough schedule of my month long November 2024 trip to Southern Italy. I generally do my anticipated trips a year out as I generally go to europe in the spring and November (I celebrate my November birthday the whole month in europe). As it is generally out of season I do the year out to get a sense of the ferry, train, and bus schedules for that particular time of year as they can change dramatically from the high season. Arrive Naples, do Amalfi coast, down to Maaratea to Tropea, over to Matera then Lecce, finally Monopoli before 10 days in Naples.

My observations from my research for November can also apply to you depending on your Spring dates. Trains: some trains on the east coast of the heel do not run on Sunday as well as poor connections between some cities. Bus schedules are very important in confirming they run when trains do not. Ferries: some ferry schedules are numerous July to September in the Naples. Amalfi region although there some a few that are year round but not as frequent.

Accommodations: with both my spring and November trips that are outside the high or even shoulder season, especially in smaller towns you are biking to, may be limited or closed.

Recommendation: finesse your trip a bit more to at least see if the ferry runs when you want and the train can get you in and out of town! (I say that as I could get to Giverny April 9, 2023 but there was no train back to Paris. Will be there November 1 going straight to the Gardens from the airport. Giverny Foundation is graciously allowing me to use my April ticket.)

Good luck.

Thanks for the feedback. Suki, you have led me to look at a 30 day trip to accomplish what we would like. Such a wide world out there, I doubt we will have a second trip to this region. So I am starting to consider 3 nights Naples, 9 nights Cilento/Amalfi, 7 nights Puglia and 11 or 12 nights Sicily. Jean, you have offered a wealth of information for Puglia. Cycling will be a way to be close to the ground and the people, though our trip to Puglia will be less far-ranging than a trip by car or train. MG & Janet, thanks for your additional suggestions/comments.

The open jaw concept makes sense. This past spring we started our 4 weeks in France, starting in Bordeaux and departing from Paris. Fortunately, we made our initial connections in London and Paris ... by literally running through both airports and thanks to Air France allowing us to board the Paris to Bordeaux flight three minutes after the gate had closed. Whew! I will try to avoid such tight connections next Spring when we head to Italy.

Still looking for more suggestions such as MG's and Jean's for where to go, where to stay, where to eat, and other questions in the original post, as I continue to explore travelogues, stories, websites and travel books.

Grazie Mille.

Can RS Travel Advisors help us, via email, phone, or in Edmonds? (We live in Seattle)

To meet staffing demands, we've suspended all Consulting Services until further notice.
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